Hood had not been fixed in every one's mind
from infancy. Pliny, however—who is always
finding out something unknown to everyone
else—discovers certain valuable qualities in
the wolf, though, to be sure, their effect is
somewhat neutralised by their being only
applicable afer his death. "It is a common
saying," he writes, "that the muffle or snout
of a Wolfe, kept long dried, is a counter-
charme against all witchcraft and sorcerie;
which is the reason they usually set it upon
the gates of country-fermes. The same force
the very skin is thought to have which is
flaied whole of itselfe, without any flesh, from
the nape of the necke. And, in truth, over
and above the properties which I have
reported already of this beast, of such power
and virtue is it, that if horses chaunce to
tread in the tracks of a Wolfe, their feet will
bee immediately benummed and astonied."
(To astonish a horse's foot must be
something.) " Also their lard is a remedie for
those who are empoysoned by drinking
quicksilver." (According to Buffon, the remedy
would be worse than the disease.) " As
touching the fat or grease of a Wolf,"
continues Pliny, " Massarius writeth, that in old
time it was much esteemed before any other,
and had the price above all. And hee saith
that new wedded wives are wont upon their
marriage day to anoint the side parts of their
husband's houses therewith at their first
entrance, to the end that no charmes,
witchcrafts, and sorceries might have power to
enter in." Pliny even discovers something
better than a remedy against witchcraft.
"It is commonly thought and verily believed,
that in the taile of this beast there is a little
stringe or hair that is effectuall to procure
love, and that when he is taken at any
time " (this is considerate of him) " he
casteth it away from him, for that it is of no
force and vertue unlesse it be taken from him
whiles he is alive." The cure of bodily
ailments also comes within the scope of a dead
wolf's capacity. " A wolve's liver taken in a
draught of wine, warme, cureth the cough!
For a griefe of the liver, caused by obstructions,
the liver of a Wolf, dried and taken in
honeyed wine, is a proper recit." Amongst
the occult properties possessed by wolves is
one about the Evil-eye. Pliny says: " It is
commonly thought in Italie, that the
eyesight of wolves is hurtfull; inasmuch as if
they see a man before he espie him, they
cause him to lose his voice for a time."
Virgil tells the same story respecting MÅ“ris,
and, indeed, it was a generally received
tradition with the Romans. I almost incline to
think it a pity that wolves are not occasionally
introduced (with the bears) into the
House of Commons; if certain orators lost
their voices there, for a time, the public would
be great gainers.

I have cited Audubon to show one way in
which wolves, when troublesome (as they
always are), may be got rid of. Here are
three other methods. The first is that of
the Swedes (whose acquaintance with wolves
is comparatively recent, they being a rarity
in Sweden in the year seventeen hundred anil
twenty), who destroy them by stuffing the
carcase of a sheep with a species of lichen or
tree-moss, which is considered a certain
poison; but it must be observed that the
lichen is mixed with powdered glass, which
would kill anything—even an old uncle from
whom one had expectations. The second
method is described by Shaw, as follows: " In
the northern parts of the world the wolves,
during the spring, get on the ice of the sea in
order to prey on the young seals, which they
catch asleep; but this repast sometimes proves
fatal to them, for the ice, detached from the
shore, carries them to a great distance from
land before they are sensible of it. It is said
that, in some years, a large district is, by this
means, delivered from these pernicious beasts,
which are heard howling in a most dreadful
manner far in the sea." The knowledge of
this incident may have suggested these lines
of Campbell:

    And waft across the waves' tumultuous roar,
    The wolf's long howl from Oonalaska's shore!

The third and last method is taken from
Pliny, who says, " Wolves will not come
into my lordship or territory, if one of them
bee taken, and when the legs are broken, bee
let blood with a knife by little and little, so as
the same may be shed about the limits or
bounds of the said field, as he is drawne
along, and then the bodie buried in the very
place where they began first to drag him."

Having fairly buried the wolf, I leave him.
If he be resuscitated in these columns, it will
be as the Were-wolf, respecting whom there
is much to be said.

OUR SPECIALITIES.

WE are the drollest little town in France;
at least, if there be other as droll little towns,
they are not droll in the same way. We
number about four thousand souls; and of
course, each soul knows every other soul's
business. Defy, not public opinion, but public
curiosity, and you are undone. Any soul
or body whose business were not known,
would be looked upon as a suspicious person,
a bad subject, a mysterious monster, a helot
to be trampled on, a pariah to be cast out, a
cagot to be excommunicated, a not-one-of-us
to be unfraternised with, and to be had
nothing to do with by our who!e municipal and
communal indigenous population. If your
business—that is, your goings-in, your
comings-out, your café-frequentings or non-
frequentings, your usual choice of beverage in
respect to milk, beer, tea, café-au-lait, café-
noir, eau-de-vie, tisane, and at what hours
you take them, and at what hours you don't;
the approximate amount of your means, or
your want of means (for it is all one, so long